Video

Father of missing student longs for “simple and humble” son

The father of one of the 43 missing students in Mexico demands the government bring his son home alive. Rough Cut (no reporter narration).

TRANSCRIPT +

ROUGH CUT (No reporter narration)
The apparent massacre of 43 trainee students in Mexico and the government's subsequent investigation are taking a toll on the students' families.
Alfonso Rodriguez, the father of Christian Rodriguez, one of the missing, speaks tenderly of his son.
"I would describe Christian as a simple and humble person. He dedicated himself to his studies. To his home and his studies, in that order," Alfonso Rodriguez said from his home in Tixla where an altar to his son reflects the hopes and despair felt by the family.
"The only wish that my son had was to move forward and get ahead," the father added.
Mexico has been convulsed by a string of protests since the 43 students were taken from the southwestern city of Iguala by police working with a local drug gang and then very likely incinerated, according to the attorney general.
Some of the protests have erupted into violence with protesters throwing Molotov cocktails and police responding with tear gas and water cannons.
The crisis is the most serious yet for Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, who came to office two years ago with a promise to restore order to a country torn apart by drug violence.
The case of the missing students, still not closed, has infuriated Mexicans and highlights the scale of the challenge that Pena Nieto faces in trying to end shocking violence and impunity.
Alfonso Rodriguez has only one wish for the government.
"I demand that the government make the 43 students appear because the police took them. I don't know how they're going to do it, but they are going to bring me my son alive along with the 43 students because they took them alive and we want them alive," Alfonso Rodriguez said.

SPONSOREDSTORIES

Reuters is the news and media division of Thomson Reuters. Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms.

*All quotes delayed a minimum of 15 minutes. See here for a complete list of exchanges and delays.